Broadband public-owned internet?
Oh my God, another government idea: now Montezuma County should get into the wideband communication business!
No. No. No, because then we would need a communications department. But all it would only take is just a few more tax dollars.
I am afraid that is a perfect example that a little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous “financial” thing. Installing fiber optic cable is only the beginning. There are quite a few well-equipped large companies that are already in that business of providing the whole package: installation, operation, maintenance and repair of broadband communications.
The county already has road and bridge limitations? I worked nearly 60 years doing that sort of work for companies, municipalities, counties and a few electric power, generation and distribution companies, and a few of them had the same exact idea. A few actually started installing fiber cables, but it turned out to be sort of a financial fiasco. One of them was Colorado Ute Electric; they filed bankruptcy. Tri-State purchased their plants and infrastructure.
There still is a fiber cable they installed along Highway 491 north of Cortez, when it was Highway 666.
Hey, instead of asking for more taxes, how about offering tax incentives or credits to someone like CenturyLink? They are already offering broadband high-speed internet and television (satellite and cable) to several markets using wireless technology. They might be interested in the county TV antenna; they could operate and maintain it, and we could reduce everyone’s property taxes.
E. M. Reaveley
Cortez